2011 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Schmitt

Quince, apple jelly and licorice are tinged with site-typical peat-like smokiness on the nose of Selbach-Oster’s 2011 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Schmitt, which comes to the palate with a vivid sense of layering: juicy fresh fruit atop confitured, along with a candied citrus rind aspect, and white raisin mingled with liqueur-like green herbal and floral extracts. It doesn’t, at least for now, emphasize mineral elements nor does it lay especially impressive claim to the salivary glands, but its prolonged, forceful finish comes off as a complex force of nature, and I suspect that the wine will have much more to say for itself in the course of the next three decades. Picking for Riesling began chez Selbach in the first days of October and finished already on the 26th. “We harvested consistent with a principle on which I put ever-greater emphasis: to pick ripe, but not overripe,” remarks Johannes Selbach. “The luxury we had is that not only did the weather remain stable, but we did not have to deal with volatile acids or acetification” of grapes on the vine. Fruit was typically crushed for the dry wines, but not permitted skin contact, although Selbach emphasizes that his usual practice of encouraging relatively long stays on the fine lees for every style of Riesling he crafts was critical to donating structure, complexity, and a sense of stuffing to these products of a relatively low-acid, high-yielding vintage. Two T.B.A.s and a B.A. were still fermenting as of last autumn and will have to be assessed in connection with my vintage 2012 report. Importers: There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300